


Black Clown

by NanamiHoro



Category: Durarara!!, Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Basically Durarara fic with Tokyo Ghoul storyline going in background, Basically all Clowns being assholes, Clown Izaya, Eventual violence, Ghoul Izaya, Ghoul Walker, Izaya being an asshole, Izaya being possessive, Multi, Namie being done with everyone´s shit, Original Character(s), Other, Time Skips, Uta Being an Asshole, What Have I Done, a lot of time skips, and even yandere later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-09 04:54:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4334645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NanamiHoro/pseuds/NanamiHoro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People like to think they are in control over their lives but it´s not so true everytime. Sometimes, there are individuals or even whole groups that manipulate us and lead our lives to tragedies, because when they want amusement, why shouldn´t they have it?</p><p>Stupid story I started to write some time ago because I wanted characters from those two series interact with each other, mainly certain two assholes that both conveniently live in Shinjuku and like to mess with other people´s lives.</p><p> </p><p>*Been on hiatus for quite some time, but I´ll try to continue writing this in the near future. I still have plans with this thing *evil laughter in the distance* >:D</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When we can, why shouldn´t we?

“Just think about it a little.”

After hearing those words, the boy swallowed a lump in his throat. He was alone. He knew that. His parents and older sister died in a car accident. He has no one left since his parents are... _were_ older, thus not even his grandparents were there for him in this situation. He didn´t know about any relatives he could depend on. He was left alone, in this world, on this rooftop in Shinjuku, the 4th ward of Tokyo, with person he has known only from chat until now.

“You know,” the person said “it´s kind of sad. What we are about to do. This world is so interesting, humans have so many faces and are so interesting and yet, some of us are _alone_ , with no one to support them, to hold them, to whisper soothing words to them when they´re _down_. But don´t think badly of that. When someone laughs, someone else cries. When someone is angry, someone is calm and vice versa. It´s just that sometimes, people live happy and content life and then... that life is _crushed_ , left _crumbling_ and people don´t know what to do. Everyone is like that, there are no exceptions. Some people think they are special and that tragedies can´t happen to them, but let me tell you this. They are _not special_ , they are just like everyone else and the world can strike them down as well. They are just humans, it´s in every single one them, this _fragility_. Some of them can get up, but they might as well end down again. Sometimes they struggle to do so, sometimes they _give up_.”

The person, Nakura, smiled. Shinji was only half listening to him. He was staring down, at the concrete below him, not paying attention to Nakuras´ monologue which was making only a little sense to him. He came here to end his life. He was fragile. He was fragile and scared and alone. But maybe he wasn´t alone at all. This Nakura person was there with him, ready to jump from the rooftop as well.

Shinji made a step forward, holding Nakuras´ hand, as the older man did the same. The boy closed his eyes and let his body bend forward.

And then, Nakura made a step back, letting go of Shinji´s hand. The boy glanced over his shoulder, seeing the other male standing on place with smirk spread across his lips as he was waving to Shinji, mouthing gleeful _bye bye_ to him. With the image of Nakuras´ eyes changing colour, sclera turning pitch black, irises crimson, Shinji´s body crashed to the cold concrete of the alleyway, his head cracking open, interrupting the night´s silence, as a bloody mess leaked from his head, his chest, his everything. But Shinji couldn´t feel it anymore.

* * *

 

“Just look at this mess. And you say you love humans.”

_Nakura_ looked behind his shoulder, sending an amused glance to the man sitting right next to the door to rooftop. “I need to eat too, once in a while. Not that I´m nice enough to stop someone from jumping when I´m full though.”

“And you did it on my feeding ground again. I might get some trouble because of it, you know, Izaya-kun?”

“I doubt that. If they find out there was some dead body, they´ll think that just some high school student committed suicide here. See? No sighs of kagune fluids or even a fight, thus can´t be a work of ghoul. No worries about that, Uta-san.”

“But you still made him commit suicide, that monologue didn´t make any sense, by the way, and you did it on my feeding ground.”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry about that. As compensation, you can take any body part you want from him. What´ll it be? Eyes? They have really pretty colour. Or maybe dick? You used to eat them a lot just a few years ago, even though I don´t know what you liked about them so much, they are little too spongy for my taste.”

Izaya smirked, motioning to the dead boy on the concrete and Uta smiled lightly, his always activated kakugan glowing eerily in the dark.

“Well, I guess that might work.” The tattooed ghoul got up, taking slow steps towards the other, and glanced down.

“Other ghouls live for the thrill of the hunt but you simply make humans commit suicide. Isn´t that a little too boring?”

“Not really.” Izayas´ smirk grew wider, on which Uta raised an eyebrow. “As I´ve already told you, I love humans and I want to see every single expression they can offer. If I hunted like any other ghoul, I would see only one expression. Fear. Don´t you think that would be boring? Seeing the same face on everyone, every time? Men, women. Young, old. But when I make them end their own life, that´s different story. Are they sad? Happy? Content? Completely down? I´ll dig into their lives, take every single dirt from it, and make their world crumble and fall apart to the point they kill themselves by _themselves_. And they don´t even want to die sometimes. I simply have to move aside when they want to hit me and whoops, look what we have there, meal just ready to feast on.”

The Informant mused with a sing sang voice, looking at cloudy sky above him. The moon just hid behind the clouds, leaving both of them in the dark with exception of distant street lights of Shinjuku.

“You are twisted person, ne? Izaya-kun.”

Uta has, Izaya thought, interesting ability to sound exited and bored at the same time, but now there was some hint of amusement in his voice as well.

“Like you are the one to talk, Uta-san.”

The Informant of Shinjuku frowned a little at other male´s words.

“But I guess,” Uta continued, “that you have a point. Watching people struggle despite not having a chance, isn´t it tragic? Or maybe comedic? At some point, both people and ghouls break, providing us with amusement. The feeling of being in power when your puppets have no idea they are being controlled, when they walk the path you created for them with feeling they have their own free will when they don´t, is superb.”

“And when they break, we will watch them from afar while having our fun at their struggle and misery.”

A malicious grin spread on Izayas´ face when his own eyes shifted into kakugan.

“The world is our playground, when we want amusement, why shouldn´t we get it? There´s no point in living if things are not interesting. The ones who always get the last laugh are us, _The Pierrot_.”


	2. The lamp post and the novelist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chapter in which Kaneki´s life being ruined is the hot topic for everyone, certain novelist is late for her book signing, causing Shizuo to destroy city´s property again and a new person enters the chatroom.

Shizuo fought the urge to destroy his clock when the unnerving ringing started that morning. But he had work to do, thus he had to get up and get ready if he didn´t want to cause Tom any trouble. Not that he didn´t cause any trouble at all and he hoped that he won´t run into that damned flea at least today.

So he got up, turning on the TV automatically, and took one of his signature bartender suits to get himself ready. As he drank his daily bottle of milk while making his breakfast, he was half listening to the news in TV, while reporter talked about a steel beam incident in Nerima that happened the previous night. What else was she saying? Something about organ transplantation to one of the victims? Shizuo switched off the TV, not wanting to be late, took his keys and cell phone and left his small apartment, ready for the work.

As per usual, Tom was already waiting for him, list of debtors in his pocket and cell phone next to his ear while talking to someone from his debt collector agency.

“Oh, morning, Shizuo.” The older man smiled when he finished his call.

“Morning.” The blonde yawned slightly, due to his recent lack of sleep. Just how many people don´t pay for their debts? Sure, this was his job, but there was always someone to piss him off and make him hurl vending machines and it was unnerving because he hated violence.

Tom sighed slightly, looking apologetically on Shizuo. “Sorry, I thought there won´t be as many people as the days before, but I just got a call from our agency.” He shook his head slightly. “They added another three people on the list. That makes eleven people to collect their debt from for today.”

The blonde groaned, massaging his temples while inhaling and exhaling slowly multiple times, which was something Tom told him to do when he was irritated. And hey, it worked! Kind of, of course he was having his outbursts and it definitely didn´t work when Izaya, the bastard, was around, but the numbers of traffic sighs ripped from the ground and vending machines thrown at people has lessen a little. Not much, but it did.

“OK, so where are we starting?” Shizuo sighed, internally reconciling with dealing with the people to collect their debt from.

“Most of them are from Ikebukuro, if not directly then from the rest of Toshima.” Tom said, looking at the list. “That´s eight people. Then two from Shibuya and one from Nerima.”

“Nerima?” Shizuo glanced at his senpai with slightly surprised face. “There was something about Nerima in news this morning. A steel beam incident or something. I wasn´t paying much attention to it though.” The ex-bartender scratched the back of his head.

“I heard about it too. The steel beams have fallen on some girl, she was killed at the spot. The guy who was with her was severely injured so the doctor transplanted the girls´ organs to him. I bet there will be more about it this evening.” Tom just shook his head. “Kids can´t go on date without catastrophes happening nowadays. It´s kind of sad. And all those ghoul cases on top of that, seriously.”

As they were walking to the first of their ´victims´ - the first debtor -, chatting idly and enjoying each others´ company, they stopped on intersection, waiting for stoplights to allow them to continue. Shizuo didn´t pay attention to distant sound of someone running their way, muttering something under their breath. They were standing in the middle of Ikebukuro goddammit, people were always in rush there so it wasn´t strange at all.

What was strange though, was when that someone ran past them. Shizuo only got glimpse of mint green hair tied in a messy braid when a young female rushed right to the middle of the road, muttering ´I´m gonna be late again.´ over and over again. Everything that happened next came in slow motion.

He could see the girl run and he could see a _frigging truck_ go right to her direction in high speed. He saw the girl stopped abruptly, looking in horror on the truck that will _crash_ into her if he didn´t do something really quickly. He grabbed the first thing that came to his hand, a lamp post, by pure instinct and ripped it from the concrete. Next thing he knew was that the brakes of the truck were screeching in attempt to stop the vehicle, and the lamp post hitting it to prevent it from moving.

* * *

 

Kadota sighed for about a fifth time in the last ten minutes. He´s been standing in the book store for about an half an hour, his copy of The Black Goats´ Egg in his hand, in hopes to be among first people who get their books sighed by the author.

But the book sighing was supposed to start like ten minutes ago and there has been no sight of Takatsuki Sen yet. He took a look of the area, stopped at the clock that was on the wall so conveniently above head of the novelists´ manager who was now clearly panicking and apologising frantically to organizers, and sighed again. Kyouhei knew that Togusa was in the mall as well purchasing the newest album of Hijiribe Ruri, and that Karisawa was around somewhere reading manga or novels. Yumasaki said he had something to do so they were meeting with him at noon in Russia Sushi and...

“I´m so late, I´m so late!”

A flow of his thoughts was interrupted by a mop of mint green hair running past him, right towards the novelists´ manager.

“Aaaah! Sensei!”

“Shiono-san! I´m sorry for being late!”

“Again...” The manager added, which made Takatsuki giggle in slight embarrassment as she seated herself behind the desk that was prepared for her. She then clasped her hands before her face in apology, looking at the line that was waiting for her this whole time.

“I´ m so sorry everyone.” The novelist started and Kadota thought that despite her hair tied only in messy braid, simple yellow dress and old, slightly oversized sweater, she was still really attractive. However, what came next left him completely speechless.

“I overslept and nearly knocked down by a car.” but that wasn´t it.

“Luckily, I was saved by a handsome bartender!”

_Are you fucking serious?!_

He´ll have to ask Shizuo if he, by any chance, didn´t save someone earlier that day. And if that someone wasn´t a young female with mint hair and slightly messy appearance. Knowing his former classmate, he had probably no clue who was it.

Saying that Takatsuki Sen was in good mood was an understatement. She was signing her books, humming happily and chatting with people around her nonstop. She even took a few photos when someone asked, completely ignoring the frantic protests of her manager, and occasionally grabbed someone´s ass jokingly. The atmosphere was light, with previous tension disappearing within moments (except Shiono Shunji, Takatsuki´s manager, who looked like he was getting a heart attack in any second).

“Soooo, what´s your name, Mister Beanie?” the novelist chirped, swinging her legs under the desk and smiling cheerfully at Kadota. “Kadota Kyouhei.” Kyouhei scratched his head. _OK, how should I put this?_

“Kadota Kyouhei-san then?” Takatsuki shot him a charming smile before writing inscription inside his copy of her book.

“Erm, Takatsuki-sensei?”

“Hmm, what is it?” the novelist raised an eyebrow in question.

“That bartender you mentioned before... did he, by any chance, have a blond hair and, well, ridiculous strength?” the beanie wearing man gave her a questioning look.

“Well, yeah, he was blond. And he did rip the lamp post from the ground.” She sing sang and wiggled on her seat. “How do you know? Are you an ESPer?” she added excitedly and wiggled even more.

“What? No, he is just an acquaintance of mine.” OK, so it was Shizuo.

“Do you see him often?” Takatsuki asked, serious all of sudden.

“We run into each other once in a while. Why do you ask?”

“You see, I was in real hurry when it happened. Because I overslept and stuff.” She shot him a somewhat worried grin.

“I wasn´t able to thank him properly, I just blurted ´I´m sorry but I´m being late!´ and ran away. So when you run into each other again can you thank him for me?”

“Yeah, sure.” Kadota smiled and bowed slightly to the novelist who just grinned again and waved him.

“See you around, Kadota Kyouhei-kun!”

* * *

 

-Kanra entered the chat room-

Kanra: Hiii, everyone! Kanra-chan´s here! Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ

Tanaka Taro: Oh, hello Kanra-san.

Saika: Good evening.

Setton: Hello. How are you guys doing?

Tanaka Taro: The usual. Not much has been happening here recently, right?

Saika: It´s been quiet for a while.

Kanra: C´mon! How can you say something like that? (´･_･`)

Setton: Huh, did something happen to you? I can agree with Tanaka-san and Saika-san that there´s nothing out of ordinary.

Kanra: Maybe in Ikebukuro, but not the rest of the world! （｡≧◇≦）ﾉ

Tanaka Taro: Kanra-san, are you talking about the steel beam incident?

Kanra: That´s it! Terrible, right? I even heard someone died there.

Setton: Oh, I heard about it a moment ago. There were two students, I guess, when the incident happened. The girl was dead on the spot while the boy was injured and near death.

Kanra: So the doctor decided to transplant girl´s organs to the guy! But it was without her family´s permission so there´s a huge fuss about it now! <(￣︶￣)>

Saika: What happened to that boy after surgery?

Kanra: I heard he survived and now is stabilized but we can´t really tell since it happened yesterday, nee? （￣～￣）

-Draco entered the chat room-

Setton: Huh, a new person?

Draco: Hello, everyone～! Draco deees! ＼（＾▽＾）／

Tanaka Taro: Hello, Draco-san. And welcome.

Kanra: Draco-chan´s a friend of mine, so I invited him to the chat room (づ￣ ³￣)づ

Draco: Right, right. Kanra-chan gave me this address so I decided to try out (*^▽^*)

Saika: Do you two know each other from internet?

Draco: Nope, we´re friends from real life! o(〃＾▽＾〃)o

Setton: I see...

Setton: Draco, where are you from?

Draco: Me? I used to live in Shibuya until a while ago.

Draco: But I moved to Nerima recently. Less pain to attend college like this.

Setton: Nerima?! There was that steel beam incident yesterday!

Draco: The news sure spread quickly, nee?

Draco: Actually, it happened pretty close to where I live ヽ ( ꒪д꒪ )ﾉ

Kanra: Waaah? Draco-chan, aren´t you scared? (;° ロ°)

Draco: Of course I am! I often take that way as a shortcut! To think that I could´ve been a victim! Scary! ヾ(;ﾟДﾟ;)ｼ

Saika: I think you were lucky...

Saika: That you weren´t there at the moment.

Draco: Thank you for your concern, Saika-san (> ^_^ )>

Saika: You are welcome.

Tanaka Taro: I agree with Saika-san.

Tanaka Taro: Anyway, it´s getting late so I´m leaving for now. Good night.

-Tanaka Taro left the chat room-

Saika: Me too, good night.

-Saika left the chat room-

Setton: Same here. See you around again.

-Setton left the chat room-

-Kanra wants a private conversation with Draco-

\- Kanra: 20th ward has been pretty hectic lately, nee? (￣ω￣)

-Draco: Don´t even mention that. They even sent more of _them_ from the Nest (=_=)”

-Kanra: Must be because of Rize-san, don´t you think, Draco-chan? (￣ω￣)

-Draco: Shittyama´s been pretty active too.

-Draco: By the way, I´m coming over for a few days <(￣︶￣)>

-Kanra: How come? You haven´t stayed over at my place for ages! Could it be that you miss your onii-chan? ( ˘ ³˘)♥

-Draco: That too.

-Draco: But it´s because of work, you know? ( ˘ ³˘)♥

\- Kanra: Aww, and here I thought that you missed me!

-Draco: I DID miss you!

-Kanra: You admitted it! <(￣︶￣)>

-Kanra: Anyway, I´m looking forward to spend some time with my cute little sister! (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

-Draco: Adopted little sister! （〜^∇^)〜

-Draco left the chat room-

-Kanra left the chat room-

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we go with chapter two. An OC of mine is introduced through the chatroom and Kaneki´s life just got ruined, making it the hot topic for completelly everyone.


	3. Meet my little sister

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chapter in which Namie´s tired of Izaya´s shit and and Izaya´s adoptive sister makes an appearence.

_Ikebukuro; 13:35 p.m._

_´A human body was found near Shibuya train station this morning. Due to state the body was found in the culprit is said to be a ghoul. According to the Commission of Counter Ghoul, the one responsible for the murder is the Scorpion ghoul located in Shibuya, the 13th ward of Tokyo. If you have any information or if you witnessed something suspicious in the area please contact CCG immediately to help and-´_

Dennis turned off the TV in Russian Sushi and handled sushi to Simon so he could take it to their customers, namely somewhat nervous Ryuugamine Mikado and, probably more nervous, Sonohara Anri sitting together at one of the tables.

“The ghoul cases are getting more frequent.” Dennis frowned a little and shook his head.

“Ghouls violent because can´t eat sushi. They hungry. If ghouls can eat sushi, not hungry and not violent.” Simon grinned at the other Russian, having another order in his hand because the restaurant just so happened to have customers for once. The chef started to prepare ordered sushi while talking.

 “It´s true that ghouls have to eat humans to survive but some of them eat way too much.”

“The Binge Eater.” Simon nodded, he heard, just like probably everyone in Tokyo, that this one ghoul in particular has been way too active. And in 20th ward, one of the most peaceful wards in the whole Tokyo of all places. Some of them sure were active.

“And Nerima used to be so calm, not like Shibuya.” Dennis moved his chin to the television where the news ran just a moment ago. “We are pretty lucky that the 16th ward is relatively peaceful.”

Just as he finished his sentence, a loud crashing sound emitted from the street as vending machine crashed on the pavement, barely missing head of the certain Information Broker and followed by feral ´IIIIIIZAAAAYAAAA!!!!!´ coming from a man in bartender suit.

“Relatively.” Dennis sighed. Calm when it came to ghouls? Yes. Ghouls in Toshima, where Ikebukuro was located, weren´t as active as in other wards and practically only one worth mentioning was the Swan.

Calm when it came to Orihara Izaya and Heiwajima Shizuo? Nope. Simply nope.

“Can eat sushi but violent. Acting like children.” Simon headed outside and looked around. Except Shizuo and Izaya fighting (or rather Shizuo chasing Izaya around while throwing everything that came to his hand at the moment) he could see Kadota and his gang, distressed Tom and girl he haven´t seen for years.

* * *

 

_Shinjuku; 11:49 a.m._

“I told you to buy your own coffee when you´re out of it, so would you be so nice and stopped taking mine?” Namie sent Izaya annoyed glance. Her coffee was disappearing from its´ container for the past week and she was seriously getting tired of her employer for it. When he was going out to gather information, he could go to the fucking convenience store to buy his own coffee. She seriously needed her regular dosage of the caffeine liquid to keep up with Izaya´s shit.

“Oh, you noticed, Namie-san?” the Informant ask, cocky smirk spread across his face as usual and the secretary was really tempted to throw the nearly empty container at him. Then she remembered that smirking bastard signs her pay cheque so she changed her mind. For now. Really, just for now!

Namie took a deep breath to compose herself before speaking.

“To not notice the coffee disappearing since the last week when I bought it, do you seriously thing I´m blind or something?” despite trying hard to sound calm Namie´s voice lowered nearly to a growl, causing Izaya to giggle and Namie clench her fists firmly. Why was she getting so worked up so much on the first place? Oh, yeah. She was working for Orihara Izaya, that´s why.

“Your coffee was shitty anyway.” Izaya shot her a grin, Namie grabbed her bag and with annoyed ´I´m done for today.” she headed to the door.

However, it opened before she managed to get to them which made her stop in slight surprise. She thought that only she and Izaya had the keys to the apartment (Heiwajima Shizuo didn´t need keys, he kicked the door open with his foot while shouting death threats addressed to her employer)

“Iza-chaaan! You here?” a young girl entered the apartment, with slightly wavy brown hair reaching under her shoulders, greenish gray eyes and wearing blue jacket. She put down a gym bag while taking off her shoes and blinked a little after spotting Namie.

“Who are-“

“Nana-chaaaan!” Yagiri didn´t have a chance to finish her question, not after the damned louse barged there with really _happy_ grin on his face and hugged the girl affectionately, which was something she hasn´t seen Orihara Izaya do before. Oh, and she hasn´t seen him spin around with someone, he was usually spinning around alone.

Namie was standing there, looking at them with raised eyebrows and questioning their mental health while they spun and giggled like idiots. They finally stopped and Izaya finally looked at his secretary, still hugging that girl slightly around her shoulders.

“Namie-san, this is my little sister, Nana-chan!” he grinned and Namie furrowed her brows slightly.

“That´s how Iza-chan calls me, my name´s Nanami.” The girl smiled and stretched her hand. Namie accepted it and shook it with her. She then turned back to Izaya with confused look in her eyes.

“I thought you had only two sisters, this is a surprise.” She said. And hoped this little sister wasn´t as crazy as the other two. This Nanami seemed to be older than Kururi and Mairu anyway. Around nineteen maybe?

“Well, I´m not really his sister.” Nanami interrupted and Namie furrowed her brows again. _What?_

“I was adopted by Oriharas when I was six, so we are not really related, that´s it.”

“He never mentioned he has adoptive sister either.”

“Namie-san, it´s not like you have to know everything about me, right?” Izaya sing-sang and shot her another shit-eating grin that was making her so damn furious.

“It would be a suitable compensation for you knowing almost everything about _me_.” Namie spat, almost too quickly and she regretted it immediately.

“Almost! But finding out the rest wouldn´t be much of a trouble.”

“I´m off!” with that, Namie left the apartment, slamming the door behind her, muttering insults under her breath and sending curses onto her employers´ head, not knowing that both he and his adoptive sister could hear her until she entered the street and some time even after that.

“Geeeez, she´s pretty dry.” Nanami smirked, her facial expression strangely reminding Izaya in some way.

“It´s fun to taunt her like this. She won´t really do anything about it though, I sign her pay cheque and have some nasty info about her and her little brother.”

“You´re wicked.”

“And you´re the fine one to speak, nee, Nana-chan?”

“I´ve got that from you!” Nanami nudged him to the ribs with her elbow and added “And Uta and the rest.”

“So you say our twisted personalities are the result of hanging around the Pierrot? But I was like that before the gang even started.” Izaya sing-sang and pointed at the gym bag. “By the way, did you bring that yummy stuff you refuse to tell me where you get it from again?”

“You mean yours and Uta´s little game ´Who will ruin someone´s life more?´? And yeah, it´s the yummy stuff. There´s even yoghurt, wanna try?” she grinned and took the bag to the kitchen where she started to take out the food on the counter. It looked exactly like human food. Except it was made _from_ humans. Izaya took a close look at it. There was some gelatine and dried meat, ham, the said yoghurt, human milk and something that looked like candy with filling and what smelled like coffee (because ghouls can´t eat cocoa). Izaya took one of the candies and placed it to his mouth, chewing it carefully. It was good. No, it was _delicious_! Slightly sweet, covered in a taste of coffee and something he couldn´t identify.

“You know,” the Broker said after swallowing “it´s amazing that someone can make these pretty and tasty imitations of human food. Maybe I´ll try to feed it to Namie later to find out how does it taste to them.” Izaya snickered at thought of his secretary´s face after saying ´Hey, you know you´re cannibalising right now, you know?´. Yeah, that would be hilarious.

“You don´t want to tell me where did you get those RC layers on your flick-blades, so I´m not telling you where I get this food.” Nanami stuck her tongue at her ´older brother´ jokingly. “Heh, that might be fun to see.”

“Hey! I don´t have RC layers on all of my flick-blades!”

“Yeah, yeah. I could have bought some coffee too. I heard you´re out of it.”

“Oh, you heard us?”

“Your secretary was too loud. If I didn´t know she has no idea we are ghouls, I would have thought she´s making me hear her on purpose.” She was putting the food to the fridge by now, right next to some human one that was there just for show.

“But Namie had a point. I should go and by some coffee, I got used to Blondy.”

“Me too. It´s actually only good info I got from Nishiki.” Nanami snickered a little under the thought of bespectacled ghoul. Befriending his girlfriend was enough to piss him off.

“Still, it can´t be compared to the coffee Yoshimura brews!” Izaya mused after a while. “Even thought the coffee he brews is undeniably best in the whole world, people watching in Anteiku might get a little boring after a while though.”

“That boring part may change in the near future.” There was malicious smirk on Nanami´s face now and she glanced at the male who raised his brow in question, smirking at her.

“Let´s say it might get pretty interesting in 20th ward. You know about that steel beam incident, right?” Nanami´s smirk´s widen slightly, sparkles of twisted amusement appearing in her eyes while pushing herself away from the kitchen counter.

“Was it your work?” Izaya chuckled, what might this lead to?

“Nah, Souta was messing around there and that was the result.” The female ghoul literally danced from the counter while continuing. “You know that the girl involved in the incident was our dear Rize-san?” that surprised Izaya. So Kamishiro Rize was dead?

“Really?” he asked eagerly. Really, this part was getting interesting.

“Really, really.” Nanami was currently dancing excitedly around Izaya´s kitchen, getting to the point. “But that´s not all! That doctor, Akihiro Kanou, transplanted Rize´s organs to the mortally injured boy, who was left there on the verge of death.” It all clicked together. That boy wasn´t injured by the steel beams, he was injured by no one else than Rize herself, who was about to kill him end eat him! But due to Souta´s influence she didn´t have the chance.

“Now Iza-chan, tell me,” Nanami stopped dancing around and glanced at Izaya who was listening with malicious interest mirrored all around his face. “What will happen to human who got transplanted with organs of a ghoul? And were those just organs?” it was good that Namie has left before. If she hasn´t, she would be in one apartment with two sociopathic ghouls.

“That may be interesting. Hell, this _will_ be interesting!” Izaya burst into maniacal laugher, holding his stomach during it. His whole body was shaking with waves of laugher. “That Souta, messing around like that!” than he stopped. He realized something important. “But you forgot to mention something, Nana-chan. The question is; How did Kanou-sensei manage to transplant Rize´s organs? She is ghoul! And hospitals, if I know, don´t have equipment with RC layers! Not to mention it would be ridiculous for him to not notice whose organs he transplanted into the boy.”

“Kaneki Ken.”

“Huh?”

“That guy´s name is Kaneki Ken. 18 years old. Student at Kamii University Literature department. No parents, uncaring aunt, basically only one friend, quiet, shy, book worm, when you think of it, he is perfect guinea pig for this sort of twisted experiment. Not only the change in physiology, but behaviour patterns as well.” ”

“So he goes to the same university as you, huh? Do you know him more closely or did you just dig out some info?” Izaya grinned, his stomach hurt a little from the previous laughing.

“The second one. I´ve only seen him around campus few times and to be honest, he hadn´t looked like anyone special so I wasn´t interested in him.”

“Well, that will change from now on, my dear Nana-chan! But for now, let´s buy some coffee, shall we?”

* * *

 

_Ikebukuro; 13:29 p.m._

“I should have known you didn´t want to just buy coffee.” Nanami let out a little sigh, though she wasn´t really surprised that they were walking around Ikebukuro for good half an hour by now. Izaya had his asshole face everyone knew him for while she kept the appearance of lovely young woman and no one really understood why she was with someone like Orihara Izaya.

“Oh, c´mon, Nana-chan! I just want to connect likeable with useful. It´s not that I won´t buy that coffee!” Izaya pouted and stopped abruptly, stopping Nanami from making another step as well. Everything just in time to be missed by a thrown vending machine.

“IIIIZAAAAYAAAA!!!! How many times do I have to tell you to stay the fuck out of Ikebukuro?!”

“But Shizu-chan, there´s so many interesting people in here! How can I stay out of off all that fun?” Izaya chirped cockily and Shizuo fumed furiously, some bystanders staring at them, some of them running away and some taking photos.

“Seriously, why am I not surprised?” Nanami rolled her eyes while Izaya grasped his flick-blade.

“Sorry, Nana-chan. We´ll leave the coffee for later, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, have your fun Iza-chan.” The younger made a few steps back to prevent being hit by anything. When she first met Heiwajima Shizuo, he was fighting with Izaya and he nearly crashed her with trashcan. Sure, she could have dodged it but it would be strange for eleven years old girl.

“This will take a while, so what should I do in a meantime?” the female ghoul took a look around to find something. Oh, there´s Dotachin-san and his group.Which also means Walker.

* * *

 

_Ikebukuro; 13:15 p.m._

“Shizuo, there´s something I wanted to ask you.” Kadota said after a little conversation with his old classmate.

“Hm?” the blonde lighted another cigarette after stomping on the previous one, giving the beanie wearing man questioning look. “Do you need something?”

“No, just... didn´t you happen to, well, save anyone yesterday?” OK, that sounded awkward.

“Yesterday....” Shizuo thought for a moment before he remembered. “Yeah, some girl. She ran to the middle of the road and nearly got crashed by a truck. I stopped it with a lamp post. Why?”

“With mint hair and yellow dress?” it took Shizuo a few seconds before he realized that was description of that girl.

“Yeah, do you know her?” he raised an eyebrow and Tom gave them both a questioning look while fumbling with his phone.

“Sort of.” Kadota typed on his cell phone to find a photo of Takatsuki Sen. He was lucky enough to find one from yesterday´s book signing and showed the screen before Shizuo´s face. “Is this her?”

“Yeah, who´s that?”

“Takatsuki Sen.” Kadota answered calmly while putting his phone back to the pocket.

“That doesn´t sound familiar to me.” The blonde tilted his head slightly. So far as he remembered, he´s never heard name ´Takatsuki Sen´ before. On the contrary, Tom has.

“Isn´t Takatsuki Sen the best-selling horror novelist in Japan?” he asked. “I heard she had a book signing here in Ikebukuro yesterday.”

“Yeah, I was there. She was late because she overslept. Or so she said. She also mentioned that she was saved by someone who wore a bartender uniform.” Kadota explained to the two men. “When I asked her about it, she said she was in such a hurry that she wasn´t able to thank you properly.”

“That would explain why she ran to the middle of the road when the traffic lights showed fucking red. If you see her again, tell her to be more careful.” Shizuo nodded before he cringed his nose and looked around the street with pissed off expression on his face. “Something is stinking here.” _Flea._

“Wait, what?” Tom´s face was clearly saying ´Oh God, not now!´. There he was again. Shizuo lifted a vending machine and hurled it at the Informant who just appeared.

“IIIIZAAAAYAAAA!!!! How many times do I have to tell you to stay the fuck out of Ikebukuro?!”

“Holy crap, he nearly crashed that girl too!” Tom yelled before rushing towards his bodyguard. Huh, there was some girl with Orihara?

“Oi, Kadota!” it was Togusa with Karisawa and Yumasaki. “They are at it again?”

“Looks like it.”

“I don´t think that´s it, Karisawa-san.” Walker gave her a worried smile but of course, it didn´t help to stop Erika´s fujoshi mind race. But was that Nanami? Just what the hell did she do here in Ikebukuro? Crap, she was coming their way.

“Just look at it! Shizu-chan´s an attacker! No receiver! No attacker! Attack, receive, attack, attack, receive! NO! Definitely an attacker!”

“So basically, you´re saying who´s seme and whose uke?” Erika stopped her fangirling and looked with sparkles in her eyes at the girl approaching them with smile. Kadota woke up from initial shock when realizing who it was.

“Hey, is it you, Nanami?”

“Hi, Dotachin-san!” she grinned and glanced towards Yumasaki. “Hello, Walker.” Smile sent to him was much darker, more a cocky, mischievous smirk, and the addressed man tensed, but still nodded as greeting. Silent ´Hi.´ was everything he said to her.

“What are you doing here anyway? And stop calling me ´Dotachin-san´, you´re making weird nickname even weirder.” Kadota asked, still a little surprised to see the girl. Didn´t she moved to Shibuya when she was fifteen?

“I´m here with Iza-chan. Should have known he just wanted to mess with Shizuo-san though.” The female responded with smile and motioned her hand towards the two foes engaged in symphony of cocky smirks and animalistic growls.

“I see-“ whatever Kadota wanted to say was interrupted by excited Erika.

“Yep! Shizu-chan´s a perfect seme while Izanyan makes his cocky uke!” she practically screamed.

“You might say that but,” Nanami looked over at the two fighters who kept destroying the city´s infrastructure. “Iza-chan likes to be in control and I believe that Shizuo-san internally wishes for someone to keep his strength in check.” Next few minutes these two were excitedly talking what was more probable, whether Shizaya or Izuo. Everything was interrupted by Simon stopping the fight, grasping Izaya by the hood of his parka and Shizuo by his collar.

“You hungry. Eat sushi, not destroying city´s infrastructure.” The huge Russian said while holding both Shizuo and Izaya in enough of a distance from each other.

“Fuck off, Simon! I have work!” Shizuo growled while trying to make Simon let him go. It didn´t work, his strength did nothing to the Russian. And whether by ´work´ he meant his actual work or killing Izaya, nobody really knew.

“Have work, still fighting like child. Must be hungry.” He switched his attention to Izaya. “Eat sushi, not mess around.”

“I´m not messing around, Simon. Shizu-chan started this fight, you know? As always.” Izaya was just swinging his legs in the air due to Simon´s grip on his jacket.

“Here, eat sushi. Treat your little sister too.” Nanami flinched when hearing the words ´little sister´ and was aware that Simon was referring to her.

“C´mon, Simon! You know I´m allergic to a lot of stuff including some fish.” She tried to save herself from eating that crap even some humans hesitated to put in their mouth. Simon thought for a second before responding with a bright smile.

“Have tea. No allergies for tea, and find something no allergies for.” He shot her another bright grin.

“Ugh, whatever.”

“I hope you poison yourself with human food and die.”Walker growled, barely audible to anyone but Nanami and maybe Izaya.

“I hope you poison yourself with human food and die.”Walker growled, barely audible to anyone but Nanami and maybe Izaya.

“You poor little thing, saying such things because you´re too weak to kill me yourself.” She shot him a smirk with an answer on the same audibility, leaving him and the rest of Kadota´s gang standing there, shortly after exchanging numbers with Erika and introducing herself properly to Togusa. After that, Nanami and Izaya entered Russian Sushi, mentally preparing themselves for the ordeal with human food.

* * *

 

-Kanra entered the chat room-

Kanra: It will be fuuuuuuun!!! Fun, fun, fun! I can´t waaaaaiiiiit, I can´t wait, I can´t wait, neee!!! Let´s have a lot of fun together eeeeveryyoooneee ♫!!!

-Kanra left the chat room-

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know I had that idea that imitations of human food for ghouls can be made. Stuff like gelatine, yoghurt and other things. For example the gelatine, which is made from boiling the bones, skin and connective tissues from domestic animals, so why not humans as well (Don´t get me wrong, I´ve never tried.). Same with dairy products. If cheese and yoghurt can be made from cow or sheep milk, why not human one too?


	4. Precaution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Practically just Izaya messing around Anteiku, which doesn´t make Touka very happy, and Tsukiyama and Kaneki have alternative first encounter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, this chapter takes place at the beginning of Gourmet arc and I want to make few things clear. In anime, the Dove´s emergence arc takes place after Gourmet arc, while in the manga it´s the opposite. I want to follow Tokyo Ghoul storyline from the manga with few minor changes and Kaneki´s visit of Helter Skelter is one of them. In manga, Kaneki visit´s Helter Skelter after he meets Tsukiyama but in this fic it was before it and Izaya was present.   
> Just saying this because it means that Mado is already dead (which is mentioned in the first panel). Also, the scene with Karube mentioned in the second one was cut off from anime, so we didn´t get Shuu climbing windows and snatching people´s eyes >:D

_A senior Ghoul Investigator was found dead in the 20th ward of Tokyo. According to the Commission of Counter Ghoul, the one responsible for the murder is the Ghoul called Rabbit who is most likely involved in the case of daughter ghoul as well as death of one of the Bureau Investigators who was involved in the investigation. Due to recent increase of ghoul attacks in the ward, CCG is taking precautions and is sending more of its agents to the 20th ward branch office to increase the chances of disposing of them._

_A ghoul attack was reported in the 20th ward. The victim is Karube Misono, an inhabitant of the ward. Due to the manner of assault, the culprit is probably the Gourmet ghoul situated in the same ward. Karube-san was transported to the Kanou General Hospital for examination, but is going to have lifelong consequences due to the loss of her eyes during the attack._

Izaya stretched in the chair and took a deep breath of air that was filled with freshly brewed coffee and put his cell phone to his pocket. Looking around Anteiku, he saw only few guests besides him and smirked lightly. Aside from Izaya himself and Anteiku folks, there were two ghouls among customers and five humans, all of them seemingly regulars. What surprised him mildly though, was fact that aside from them, he could smell someone familiar in the back room that definitely wasn´t from Nerima. Sure, he has known that Yumasaki visited the coffee shop once in a while due to his, for a ghoul, mildly disturbing eating habits, which made him seek Yoshimura´s help occasionally, and the fact that he was an acquaintance of Fueguchis, and of course that the recent sad events made him worried about little Hinami-chan. The Information broker knew that Walker was aware of his presence and that he wasn´t really enthusiastic about it, but Izaya didn´t really care about Kadota´s gang member all that much.

He looked to the counter and shot Kaneki charming grin, which made one-eyed ghoul smile back at him sheepishly and Touka looked like she wanted to throw up.

The steel beam incident caused by Souta already happened some time ago and a lot of things that included Kaneki happened. Telling Kazuo to hunt on Nishiki´s feeding ground was originally supposed to be just a little game but due to Touka´s appearance and eventual influence of Yoshimura, which led to Kaneki´s joining of Anteiku, brought this game to the whole new level. ´Unfortunate´ death of Ryouko-san as well. Nanami was strangely interested in one of those Doves who took her down but that was her own business.

To Izaya, Kaneki just happened to be another of his game pieces that could make some interesting actions. And it was the one he shared with the rest of Pierrot, he was _the_ Orihara Izaya, he had plenty of other game pieces of his own running around Tokyo and Kaneki Ken just became one of them.

_Because Kaneki-kun is still half human, and I **love** all of my humans!_

Oh, what an adorable reaction he had. Izaya met the one-eyed ghoul for the first time in Helter Skelter and was honestly amused when he got startled by Itori wearing an old lady mask and while she and Uta made fun of it, he used an opportunity to make a good first impression. Izaya knew too well that to someone who sees him for the first time in his life and who was too innocent and civil to ever hear the name Orihara Izaya, he was just a kind stranger with handsome face. It wasn´t all that difficult to wrap Kaneki around his finger and gain his trust. No, Kaneki Ken was still too pure and naive to realize Izaya´s personality and motives and his life was just screaming _ruin me!_  

The bell at the door rang, signing that Walker´s already finished his visit and left Anteiku. Which reminded Izaya of something.

“Touka-chaaan!” he whined and shot the female ghoul a look. “I still haven´t got the refill of my coffee you know?” Izaya made a hurt expression and looked over to Kaneki who flinched and send him an apologetic smile before turning to Touka. The said female groaned but quickly composed herself, taking on an image of sweet waitress before other customers and prepared Izaya his espresso. She also managed to kick Kaneki to his shin behind the counter in the meantime and the Informant found himself to actually feel sorry for him. Touka´s kicks were really painful, he knew that.

As she handed him his coffee with that sweet smile that didn´t match her eyes (Which were clearly saying ´Just drink your damned coffee and get lost, you pest!´), the other customers have left and Touka glared at him for real.

“You are sitting here for the past hour and it´s pissing me of! What do you want here, Shittyzaya?”

“Aww, so mean, Touka-chan! Can´t I enjoy a good coffee in such a lovely atmosphere while watching people? And besides, it´s not that I was doing anything suspicious. I´m just waiting for a client.” Izaya shot her a charming grin and Touka clenched her fists.

“Urm, Touka-chan...”

“Kaneki,” the female ghoul sent the eyepatch wearing male a glare that could be easily described as ´shooting daggers´, “I understand that you are new to this so you don´t know. There are people that should be avoided in every situation and with your nature, you should be twice as much careful around them than others. So do me a favour and stop acting like a naive idiot and when you´re going to pretend you´re cleaning cups, at least take a damn cup!”

“So harsh.” Izaya chirped and Touka turned to him, ready to say something sharp again. Her actions were interrupted by the new guest entering Anteiku.

“Welcome.” Kaneki smiled at the person before he paused in confusion.

Everyone´s eyes were assaulted by a hideous suit worn by a rather flamboyant, purplehaired male.

Tsukiyama took a deep breath of coffee filled air, his arms outstretched dramatically and his eyes closed for effect. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, looking around Anteiku.

“Such a delightful aroma. I really feel more relaxed now.”

“What do you want here, Tsukiyama?” Touka spat at the Gourmet. _One pest at time is enough_. She turned her gaze back to Izaya and after seeing that shit-eating grin of his, it all clicked together.

“As friendly as always, Kirishima-san. But it´s probably a charming point of yours, I guess.” And there was that annoying expression on his face again.

“You disgust me, you pig.” She scowled and went to clean the counter to make herself busy.

“Hmm?” the flamboyant male´s gaze stopped at Kaneki´s figure, which made the half-ghoul flinch in surprise.

“You with the eyepatch, are you new here?” Tsukiyama raised a brow and gave him all around look.

“Y-yes, I´ve started to work here recently.”

“What´s your name?”

“K-Kaneki.”

“Oi, you´re being nuisance, not to mention gross. Get lost already.” Touka send him an annoyed glance and frowned when Tsukiyama´s look fell upon The Informant, who was watching them with interest for the whole time.

“I´d like to enjoy a nice cup of coffee first though, Kirishima-san. Besides, I´m here for business.” OK, so her worst premonition came true and the last hope of at least one of these two leaving was shattered when Tsukiyama seated himself at Izaya´s table. Touka frowned in annoyance, instinctively blocking their conversation. Whatever business they had with each other it had to be something shady and hardly legal. Sure, Touka´s actions could be described as anything but legal, she was a ghoul and she had to eat. Which, by ghoul standards, meant she had to kill people. Kirishima Touka was murderer and she knew that, but she was doing all of this to survive. It wasn´t her fault that her body was the way it was, that was what she told to that Dove who killed Ryouko-san and her husband and who wanted to kill Hinami as well. So she killed him.

“....-chan.”

_He had family too._

“Touka-chan.” Kaneki´s voice made her flinch and, unfortunately for her, made her drop the cup she was cleaning absentmindedly. It broke, shattering into several shards and picking up the attention of the two pests at the table. Touka immediately shot Kaneki a murderous glare which was demanding explanation for breaking her train of thought.

“Erm, my shift ends by now.” The half-ghoul shifted nervously and adjusted his eyepatch a little. Touka was staring at him for a few seconds before it finally hit her.

“Tsk, whatever. Just get lost already, Bakaneki!” she spat and started to pick up the broken shards.

“Touka-chan, are you OK?” Kaneki noticed that since the incident with Ryouko-san, Touka was acting strange. She was more absentminded and got angry more than before(If that was even possible for her).

“Yeah, yeah! I´m fine, so just go already.”

“Alright.” She definitely wasn´t.

* * *

 

“Geez. Guess I overdid it a little.”

The ghoul known as ´Scorpion´ looked around and scratched her head through a hood of her green parka, her lower face hidden by black mask. She was standing in some far alleyway of 13th ward, in the middle of pool of blood and surrounded by three lifeless bodies.

“I can´t really eat all three of them even if I wanted but I can´t leave them here either, that would be a waste. Binge Eater used to be Rize. Just how the hell did she manage to eat so much and not getting fat?” Scorpion pouted and fished her cell phone from the pocket of her parka and dialled number. After a few rings, the called person picked up their phone.

“ _Hiiiiii, Nana-nee!_ ” the cheerful voice of Orihara Mairu was heard from the other side and Scorpion, smirked.

“Mai-chan, do you and Kuru-chan have something to eat?”

“ _Hmm, yeah, but I think we are getting a little short with food by now._ ” Mairu paused and asked Kururi, who was probably next to her and continued. “ _We have only a little left! Nee, nee, Nana-nee, do you have something? Kuru-nee said she feels like eating some guts!_ ” she asked cheerfully and Nanami had to grin at that.

“Yeah, I killed three guys just a while ago so they´re still fresh. I take it I should deliver you one then?” she raised her brow in question, even thought the twins couldn´t see it.

“ _Yaay, give us the most handsome one from them, ´kay?_ ”

“They´re all just some thugs you know?”

“ _Still!_ ”

“Fine, fine! I´ll get to your apartment in two hours, I still have stuff to do!”

“ _They´re going to get cold in that time.”_

“Didn´t you say you still have some food left?”

“ _Nana-nee, how can you compare leftovers with a fresh kill?!_ ” Well, true, nothing could compare to the fresh kill, except those snacks that guy was making. That reminded her she wanted to take one of the corpses to him so he could make some other imitations of human food from it.

“Fine, I´ll call Saeki so he can deliver it to you.” Nanami rolled her eyes, made a mental note about it and prepared herself about the other ghoul´s rant that he is a taxi driver, not a delivery service.

“ _O-kaay! By the way, Nana-nee, can you bring us some of those snacks when you visit us next time?_ ”

“Sure, one of those guys is going to be turned into them after all.” Nanami shrugged at that.

“I´m ending for now. See you later!” with that, she hang up and dialled the number of the ghoul taxi driver.

“Saeki, I need your car again.”

* * *

 

Everything was going well and if Izaya was really lucky, he was about to kill two flies with one hit. Itori told him about her recent interest in Ghoul Restaurant and he knew she told even Kaneki about it. Tsukiyama was member, which, according to Itori, could help the half-ghoul to get there. Sure, she could ask Souta, but sending Kaneki will be much more fun. 

_Of course, poor Kaneki-kun is probably going to get into the Restaurant in different fashion than he imagined. Or rather than ´probably´, I should say ´definitely´._

The Informant had to smirk at the thought. He had to admit that Kaneki´s scent was rather delicious and captivating and that was exactly why he arranged his little business meeting with the Gourmet at the time the poor boy was at Anteiku. It was Izaya´s intention right from the beginning to make Tsukiyama meet Kaneki and just as expected, the Gourmet took the bait and was at his hunt now. Sure, they would meet even if he didn´t interfere, but the sooner, the better. He was curious what Tsukiyama´s reaction will be when he discovers Kaneki is a one-eyed ghoul, albeit artificial. And now that flamboyant ghoul has set his eyes on his new prey, Izaya didn´t have to worry about other thing.

_Shizu-chan has been spending a lot of his time in 20th ward recently._

This was his main objective from the whole beginning. He didn´t have any indications that the Gourmet or any other ghoul from Nerima had found out about Shizuo, but a little precaution wouldn´t hurt, right? 

Despite the brute´s inhuman strength, there was only a little chance he would have the capability to defend himself against a ghoul and their kagune and Izaya was aware of that. Shizuo may be strong and physically able to handle one, but he lacked the killing intent that was natural for almost every ghoul. It was well known that ex-bartender hurt quite a lot of people in the past, hell, he sent many of them to hospital, but it has never been with intention to kill. And this absence of killing intent was the exact reason why there was no way he could defend himself against a ghoul.

Sure, Izaya was sending gangs and delinquents at Shizuo since they were at high school, but he´s never sent any ghouls and the Informant had very simple reason for that. Shizuo´s own scent was quite unique and for some ghouls intoxicating and nearly maddening.

_Tsukiyama can have Kaneki-kun for all I care, but Shizu-chan belongs to me._

It´s not that Izaya has to worry all that much when his beast was in Ikebukuro or 16th ward in general. Despite Shizuo´s unawareness, even he had a ghoul among his friends, and really strong one at that. The only problem was that her influence was only around 16th ward, which led Izaya to make his little precaution with Tsukiyama in 20th ward. He just had to make sure that the Gourmet will be interested in another prey that was Izaya´s own. Or rather than prey, shouldn´t he call Shizu-chan his possession? 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know I actually enjoyed writing this chapter. Then I remembered Tsukiyama´s state in manga now and I felt like crying.   
> Also, I used Saeki/Torso here. Because why not >:D


	5. Observation and information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What can I say about this chapter? Nanami´s interracting with Hide and Shizuo throws people while being stalked by Hori. Tom has no idea what´s going on, for now.

“I don´t have anything to do.” Orihara Nanami stretched her arms and pouted like a little kid. Other university students were walking around her in campus, going to their next lessons or just enjoying some time with their friends. She wasn´t really in hurry, hell she had no idea what to do for the rest of the day because her last lesson for that day has just finished. One of the professors was accused for sexual harassment recently and thanks to those photos that _someone_ got their hands on was now investigated by police.

_Not that I liked that guy on the first place. And that little mouse didn´t want much for those photos. She can be pretty useful sometimes but better be careful around her, I have no idea what is she thinking and it pisses me off._

“Huh, wasn´t Iza-chan meeting with her today?” Nanami placed a finger on her lips in a thinking manner and indeed remembered that Izaya was meeting with Chie Hori that day. And if she remembered correctly, which she was sure she did, the meeting was about Tsukiyama spending his time with Kaneki. 

“OK, so what to do for the rest of the day?” the female ghoul furrowed her brows and pursed her lips while thinking. There was no one in the chat room right now so this option was out of question. Nishiki hasn´t shown up in campus for some time and without bothering the bespectacled ghoul it felt kinda boring there. Bothering his human girlfriend was out of question as well, Nanami wanted to play her role as nice little kouhai for a little longer. Practically to piss Nishiki off some more when he stops playing he´s sick. Since when was hole in your stomach meaning you´re sick anyway? How about Dollars?

“Oh, I know what!” Nanami clapped her hands happily and few students turned their heads to her. Not that she cared about them.

“Oi-! Orihara!” there was a blond student rushing towards her and waving, probably to catch her attention before she leaves. When he made it, he placed his hand on his knees, panting heavily and trying to catch his breath. Nanami just raised her eyebrow and gave him a look. Sure he wasn´t running and shouting like an idiot for no reason. Finally, he spoke.

“Do you know something new about Nishio-senpai?” the blond straightened and looked at her with kind of worried brown eyes.

“Not really. By the way, why are you asking _me_ about that? There are people who hang around him and would know better than me.” _And didn´t he try to kill you and Kaneki?_ She thought amusedly, but remained calm on the surface.

“Huh? I thought you would know, since you are friend with his girlfriend.” He tilted his head in surprise and gave her those doggy eyes.

_He´s like golden retriever or something._

“Haah? Do you seriously think that Kimi-senpai tells me everything? And about Nishiki? Really, you overestimate me, Nagachika.” She signed. “No, I don´t know anything new. And how about you and Kaneki? I heard you guys got actually pretty lucky in that car accident.”

“We are both fine. I just don´t really get how could that driver fall asleep at the wheel. Nishio-senpai wasn´t that lucky though, that´s why I thought you might know something new about him. Sorry to bother anyway.” Hide scratched his head embarrassingly and laughed.

“By the way, you´re already leaving, Orihara?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. This was my last lesson for today.”

“Ne, Orihara,” Hide came closer to Nanami and lowered his voice to whisper. “Is it true? About that professor, I mean.”

“That he was accused for harassment? Yeah, don´t know the details though. But I heard that some girls from our year are among... well, victims. And that he even blackmailed some students, but I guess that´s just gossip. ”

“Wha-? That´s nasty.” He looked at his watch and yelped. “Sorry, I´ll get to get going. If you find something about Nishio-senpai, can you tell me?” the ghoul just shrugged.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Thanks! See ya!” and here he was running away again. Nanami was watching Hide´s retreating back for a while before she turned towards exit. She could bet that Nagachika wasn´t buying that ´car accident´ thing Yoshimura told him about. He was clever and perceptive and could take two and two together.

_And Nishiki´s kicks aren´t_ that _strong._

“Seriously.” The ghoul giggled slightly and corners of her lips curled upwards in mischievous smirk.

_You´re too clever for your own good, Nagachika._

* * *

 

Tom let out a troubled sign when a body of a certain debtor collided with a really expensive looking car. The said debtor was sent flying by no one else than Heiwajima Shizuo, who just so happened to not be in very good mood that day. Not that it mattered, Shizuo´s mood swings were as unpredictable as always.

Now he was marching towards that guy who was still lying on the bonnet of that car, with comically wide eyes and opening and closing his mouth like a fish thanks to shock he just experienced.

_Well, he asked for it._ Tom slightly nodded to himself and watched as Shizuo picked that guy, who was minimally overweigh and shook with him while yelling at him angrily. _He shouldn´t have threaten Kasuka before Shizuo._

The said debtor recognized Shizuo and somehow knew that Hanejima Yuuhei was, in fact, Heiwajima Kasuka, so he started to rant that he has a few friends that can make his brother´s life a living hell. Which of course, the ex-bartender didn´t like at all. Clenched fists, gritted teeth, twitching eyebrows and low growl that escaped Shizuo´s throat was enough for Tom to know he has to step back because shit was about to hit the fan. And it did, with the guy flying around and hitting that expensive looking car and Shizuo bursting into a fit of rage. People were stopping and watching what was happening, with some of them even flipping their cell phones to take a photo or video of the situation. Tom could swear that he saw even some little girl with camera among people but he lost her after a moment.

“Hey, Shizuo, I think you should calm down a little. He doesn´t look like he can listen to you already.” The older man pointed on the fact that the debtor fell unconscious a few moments ago. Which practically meant he wasn´t going to pay any time soon.

“Oh, sorry.” Shizuo let go of the debtor, making him fall back on that now demolished car again. “Guess I overdid it again.” He looked troubled, like any other time he lost control over his short temper and destroyed public property.

“Nah, it´s fine. He deserved it anyway.” Whether Tom meant insulting Kasuka or not paying his debts, Shizuo didn´t really knew.

“How about little break?”

“Yeah, that sounds good. Where are we going?” Shizuo tilted his head and thought for a moment. “I don´t really have any ideas.”

“What about some coffee? I think I need some caffeine or else I´m falling asleep.” Tom laughed and headed away from the unconscious debtor and demolished car.

“Sure, why not.” The ex-bartender shrugged and followed his senpai, sparing his glance to the guy he´s just beaten. Yeah, cup of coffee wouldn´t be bad, maybe he could order some cake too?

They headed to a nearby coffee shop, not noticing a certain child-like looking female with camera watching their backs. Hori Chie quickly snapped a few photos of Shizuo before she rushed to her meeting with Orihara Izaya.

* * *

 

The coffee shop in the centre of Ikebukuro was nice and somewhat calm place where people were going to escape the everyday rush in the city. The staff was likable and even the outside air smelled of coffee and freshly baked pastry.

A kindly smiling waitress took Tom´s and Shizuo´s orders while smiling at them and Tom couldn´t shake the feeling that Shizuo has just caught her eye. He pointed it out shortly after the waitress, whose nametag read ´Mami´, left.

“She was totally into you.” The older man grinned at his companion who just raised an eyebrow at his comment.

“Really?” Shizuo looked behind his back but Mami was nowhere to be seen. She probably went into the backroom for something. “I didn´t notice.” He shrugged it off as nothing.

“C´mon, the way she was smiling at you, she definitely liked you.”

“Hmm...” there was silence before Shizuo spoke again. “Then I guess she isn´t from Ikebukuro.”

“Don´t be like that.” Tom signed at his kouhai´s comment. He knew what Shizuo was thinking. That Mami doesn´t know who he is and because of that isn´t afraid of him. Shizuo was always insecure about his inhuman strength and with combination with his short temper, he was afraid that he would hurt people dear to him with it. Maybe he should open to more people than his younger brother, his superior, crazy underground doctor and headless faerie as his only friends. Oh, and he´s almost forgotten about Maya.

“I just remembered I haven´t seen Maya lately.”

“Maya?” Shizuo gave him somewhat confused look. “Yeah, I think she has something important to do for now. Or something like that, but I´m sure she mentioned it when I spoke to her last time.”

“Do you know what is it?” Shizuo just shrugged at the question.

“No idea. She has her privacy and I don´t really want to poke my nose into it.” He just pointed that Maya might be involved in some kind of shady business but hey, good half of people he knew was like that. Shinra was an underground doctor, Celty courier who occasionally did some work for local yakuza and Maya was heaven only knew what exactly right now. But Shizuo had feeling that she used to work in coffee shop few years ago. But not in Ikebukuro, maybe Nerima? He wasn´t sure about that, he was at high school at the time he met the woman for the first time. He clearly remembered that he practically befriended her the moment they met, with Maya not displaying any kind of fear or negative reaction towards him whatsoever, despite the fact that Shizuo´s just thrown her boyfriend on the other side of the field. She even praised him for that, said boyfriend was hardcore weirdo which he remained until now.

“But Celty mentioned she´s seen her recently.”

“I see.” Tom just shrugged it off because Mami has just brought their orders. Coffee for Tom and cappuccino and cake for Shizuo.

“Thank you. By the way, may I ask where are you from?” Tom´s question made Shizuo nearly jump and Mami smiled at both of them.

“Shinjuku. But I´m attending Raira university, so I´m currently looking for an apartment here in Ikebukuro. I´m not really lucky thought.” She laughed cutely, with little embarrassed blush tinting her cheeks.

“Mami! Can you come here?” a middle-aged woman shouted from inside the shop and Mami turned her head towards her.

“Sure! Sorry, I´ll get to get going. Our manager is kinda stern.” She bowed slightly, before turning on her heel and run back into the shop. Tom was watching her for a while and when he turned back to Shizuo, the blond was looking elsewhere and was blushing. When the older man looked at his food he had to laugh. There was a cinnamon–made kitty on his cappuccino.

 

Meanwhile, Yumasaki Walker´s cell phone rang, assigning a text message. The leader of ghouls in 16th ward was gathering ghouls for a meeting the next day to discuss an important matter of a certain ghoul group causing havoc around Tokyo. This was rare occurring, there used to be one meeting in two, three or even four months but this was already second in this month.

Apparently, Aogiri tree got its eye on 16th ward and not Walker, nor any other ghoul from Toshima was very happy about it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I had no idea how long it will take to get to some action. But I´m guessing it will take about... dunno, two chapters? Maybe three from now :´D


	6. Aware and unaware

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walker gets an unwanted guest. Meanwhile, Izaya and Hori talk about Tsukiyama and Kaneki.

Manga shop in Ikebukuro was place you could meet Karisawa Erika and Yumasaki Walker almost on daily basis. They were there even now, bustling around frantically while looking for some new manga they haven´t their hands on yet while Kadota stood in the corner helplessly with some book and waited until the two hardcore otaku friends find what they wanted so they could move somewhere else. Not that he expected that to happen anytime soon, with this shop being practically their natural habitat.

“See, Heroine-chan will get together with Protagonist-kun and everyone will live happily on secluded island, right after they save the world from aliens who invaded the Earth at the beginning of the story.” Walker exclaimed excitedly, some cheap manga in his hands while he gesticulated lively and nearly slapped some random teenager that was passing next to him.

“I´m quite saddened you´re mistaken, Yumacchi.” Erika folded her hands on her chest with serious expression on her face while her eyes remained closed. When she opened them, they were beaming with excitement and her hands moved, one to her hip, the other into air with firmly clenched fist and she nearly shouted. “It´s so obvious that Protagonist-kun is in love with his best friend and there´s no way he can let him die later in the series. No, maybe Best Friend-kun will get fatally wounded by aliens, but he survives and this incident makes them both realize they are, in fact, in love!”

Erika nodded to herself and Walker felt imaginary sweat drop slide next to his head. Of course that his friend would come up with this sort of thing almost on everything and he didn´t really think bad of her. It was pointless and he´s realizes that long time ago.

After all, Erika was hardcore yaoi fangirl that paired even people she knew in real life. Including Walker, which kind of bothered him for a reason.

Yumasaki shot Kadota troubled grin which clearly said _help_ when Erika continued with her yaoi monologue with him as only intended listener, though a few people that were presented in the store turned their heads towards her. Some of them looked amused, some annoyed, some bewildered and some just showed her thumbs up.

Walker covered his face with some manga when his friend included him in her yaoi fantasies but quickly turned her fujoshi mind to Ikebukuro´s best known foes. She then patted his shoulder and streamed towards yaoi section of the shop while giggling.

Walker looked at Kadota again, who just tapped his finger on imaginary watch on his wrist and he nodded, sure they should leave soon to catch up with Togusa.

It was at the moment when a familiar blue jacket entered the manga shop and Walker´s mood immediately dropped down.

“So this is where you´ve been this whole time. I thought it was strange when I couldn´t find you for an hour and something. Should have known you´d be in place like this though.” Nanami snickered and grabbed some random manga from shelf.

“What do you want?” Walker growled without even bothering himself to look at the female ghoul.

“Oh, c´mon, can´t I buy something to read? Don´t be so brash towards me.” She pouted and patted his head. Walker´s hand shot almost immediately to chase it away with smack but Nanami moved it a second before he could.

“I bet you have similar stores in 20th ward too. Do you seriously think I´m buying this sort of shit from you?” His eyes narrowed and he glared at her threateningly. It didn´t work. Not from him. Not against her.

“OK, the truth is...” Nanami giggled and there was that smirk of hers again. ” ... I just wanted to mess with you a little. It was boring today, you know? With no Nishi-chan to bother around. He still pretends being sick with a hole in his stomach.” Walker nearly jumped because of those news.

“Nishiki was injured? What the fuck did you do?!” he was a tad bit louder than he wanted to be, few people looked around at him, including Kadota who shot him surprised look. Erika was behind the corner.

Another annoying giggling from her.

“Me? I didn´t do anything at all. He just so happen to be so, sooo stupid to cross paths with one-eyed.” Nanami looked around the shop and after realizing that there were more customers now, she pushed Walker outside, into nearby alley.

“... did nothing...” he murmured when they left the shop.

“Hmm? What was that? I couldn´t hear ya.”

“You didn´t do anything at all? Bullshit, I bet you´ve planned this from the whole beginning.” Walker snapped and she just placed her hands on her hips.

“What are you talking about?” She raised her brows teasingly and he had to resist the urge to punch her in the face. Nanami´s mere presence irritated Walker to no end.

“They go to the same university, of course they would run into each other, sooner or later.”

“And you just so happen to help them with that _running into each other_ , right? Seriously you...” there was familiar throbbing around his eyes and Walker took a deep breath. It was good that he had permanently closed eyes, at least his kakugan remained unseen when this person caused him to lose his temper.

“I was actually surprised that Kaneki caused Nishi-chan that sort of damage. Sure, he was desperate and hungry, but this?” She smiled mockingly.

“Of course he´d lose it. He used to be human just recently and doesn´t know how to control himself.”

“What´s up? Getting pissed off?” the female ghoul snickered and her hands travelled from her hips into her jacket´s pockets.

“With you around? Yeah.” He let out a scowl and clenched his fists.

“By the way, you guys from the 16th ward are meeting quite often lately.”

“How the hell do you know that?”

“Oh, c´mon! Iza-chan isn´t only info broker in the whole Tokyo. So? What´s the deal with the meetings?” she bended forward with expression that was saying he can tell her. But Walker won´t.

“None of your business.” He turned on his heel and wanted to leave.

“Oh! And another thing!” Nanami clapped her hands excitedly. “Does Eri-chan know?” Walker hesitated. Of course Erika knew he was ghoul, unlike Kadota and Togusa. So he gave up and told her the truth, it might turn into lesser hell than if he didn´t answer at all.

“Of course she does.” He didn´t even need to look into her face anymore to know that she´s smirking again.

“Silly Walker, of course I know that she´s known about you being ghoul for quite some time.” He turned sharply towards the other ghoul with horrified expression on his face. She was already passing by him.

“What I was asking about was whether or not Erika knows you like her.” He was looking absentmindedly into the alley, shocked expression plastered on his features with Nanami´s last words echoing in his head.

“Well, I take it she doesn´t. I wonder how long will it last like this?”

Walker clenched his fists firmly, to the point his knuckles turned white.

“Shit.”

He hit the wall next to him with his fist. It hurt a little, but he didn´t mind. Not now, when he was pissed off. At her for ruining everything. And at himself for being weak and unable to do a thing.

“Shit. Shit. You fucking _Sasori_ , shit.”

Meanwhile in the store, Kadota was wondering why was Yumasaki always so tense around Izaya´s adoptive little sister.

* * *

 

“So, what exactly is Tsukiyama planning to do with Kaneki-kun?” Izaya chirped and rested his elbows on the table he was sitting at. Hori raised her eyebrows dispassionately and put a mouthful of chocolate parfait into her mouth. It was the third one Izaya was forced to buy her.

“Hmm, I think he takes him to squash today. Then for coffee. Tsukiyama-kun said it´s for preparation for tonight´s dinner but you know I have no idea what it is good for.” The small female shrugged and put another full spoon into her mouth eagerly. Despite her age, Chie Hori had a childish tastes and Izaya thought that she looked like hamster. No wonder Tsukiyama called her _little mouse_. And just like mice, she could get information and slip out of place without being noticed by anyone.

“I´m just curious why you asked me about it.” Hori pointed and Izaya´s brows perked upwards.

“Excuse me?”

“Well,” Hori swallowed another mouthful of parfait. “I know that you love humans, but isn´t Kaneki-kun, well, ghoul? And you even arranged that he and Tsukiyama-kun could meet back there at Anteiku with you there, didn´t you go a little more far than you usually do?”

“Let´s call it curiosity.” Izaya entwined his fingers and rested his chin on them. “I´m sure you know that Kaneki-kun is no ordinary ghoul. You are human so you can´t understand but his scent is rather... unique. Something not only me, but also Tsukiyama-kun has never smelled before. I´m not interested in gourmet food, however, your friend is and this interest of his might provide me with great amusement.”

“Is it because Kaneki is one-eyed ghoul?” Izaya´s eyes widened at this.

“You know?” it truly was amazing that Hori managed to get even this information.

“Yeah, but Tsukiyama-kun doesn´t. I found out just recently and I want him to find out by himself.”

“Why?”

“Because it will be interesting like this, don´t you think? I´ve heard ghouls talking about those so called one-eyeds. According to them, they are extremely rare, furthermore, they are half-human, half-ghouls, which, with combination of Tsukiyama-kun being gourmet...” she didn´t finish the sentence. She didn´t even need to with excited gleaming in her eyes. “And he might survive.”

“Why do you think that? What I heard the Restaurant has set many precautions to prevent their one-time guests to escape.”

“I thought you´ve never been there.”

“I haven´t. But a friend of mine is regular.” Izaya smirked at memory of Souta describing what´s happening inside Ghoul Restaurant. He and Uta had enough fun just from listening to him. “But it´s true that Kaneki-kun is full of surprises.”

“Hmm...” Hori finished her parfait but left the spoon in her mouth.

“By the way, how about that other thing I asked you for?” the ghoul Information broker smiled and Hori just nodded.

“Sure, I have it here.” She started rummaging in her bag and after a while, she pulled out an envelope. Izaya took it from her and looked inside. There they were, the photos of Shizuo.

“Did he notice you?” he asked without tearing his eyes from them. Shizuo on the street. Shizuo entering his apartment. Shizuo beating the shit out of some thug. Shizuo eating.

“No. The dreadlocks guy did, though. But there were so many people with their cell phones out it doesn´t really matter.” Izaya was only half listening by now and Hori had to sigh at his lunatic-like giggling and barely noticeable blush on his cheeks.

“Seriously, I don´t even want to know what you do with them, Orihara-san.”


	7. Don´t go alone, my dear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ghouls have a meeting in 16th ward. Meanwhile, certain jealous Clown has found his target.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was thinking about making some Durarara character a ghoul, but seriously, I had no idea who. So at the end, I decided on Rio. She won´t have much screen time (Honestly, almost no screen time at all) and she´ll be complete minor character. I was thinking about Mika or Saki, but I dismissed them both. Firstly, Seiji is human, so he wouldn´t be able te crash Mika´s head into the wall and Saki got her legs broken by Blue Squares.  
> Also, I´m sorry that Walker´s so ooc. Like, terribly ooc. As much as I´m trying to keep characters in character, he just turned out like this (and will be worse).  
> And there´s too many OCs (I´m not sorry at all about this one), but don´t worry, basically only Nanami and Maya are important. And the bad guy who will appear later, but others are not important and you can ignore them.  
> Another note is, here´s a part in this chapter which says that Rize is the reason why Aogiri could take over the 11th ward. In the manga, it was shown that she killed Hagi and his associates before she left the ward, passing the leadership to Banjou, who is weak. I have a feeling that if Hagi was alive, Aogiri would have had at least much more trouble to take control over ward.  
> Aaand, the last one. About Izaya´s mask and clothes as ghoul. I actually like the idea that his mask has similiar shape as Itori´s one and I changed his clothing. Thought still black, he wears a black trench coat instead of his fur trimmed jacket, simply because it is his his image as Information broker and someone might recognize him.

It was late afternoon when first clouds appeared above Ikebukuro, causing people to become wary of the changing weather and making them curse they lack of umbrellas. It took about another hour to start rain which remained like this to the late evening.

Now, at eleven at night, the rain ceased into light drizzle and clouds started to scatter slowly. Despite the downpour earlier that day, there were still people around the city, simply because they didn´t have any other choice or because they didn´t mind the rain.

Walker pulled his hood into his face more and sped up from simple walk into slow run. He passed few members of one of the colour gangs and turned into an alleyway that led towards an old warehouse. The area was closed due to possible danger inside but he didn´t mind, just like other ghouls from Toshima that were already there. He got over a fence and strode behind a corner of a warehouse.

Their meeting wasn´t inside of the abandoned building. It was underneath it.

When he reached the backside of yard, he spotted a single figure crouched next to wall, completely still. When the person realized it was him, they stood up, revealing a man in mid-thirties. He nodded as a way of greeting and led Walker to a small cabin right next to the larger building. He opened the door carefully to not make any noise and revealed stairs leading down. Before entering, they both checked their surroundings to make sure no one was around. Confirming the air clean, they both walked down to the basement.

The passage was dark as hell, but Walker was lucky enough to have far better senses than normal humans.

They reached a small room which probably served as some kind of underground closet, illuminated only by single flashlight and aside of them, occupied by seven people.

“You were the last one to come here.” The man who waited outside said and leaned to the door. His sense of hearing was far above any of the presented ghouls, so he was on guard for the whole time.

“There´s just nine of us. And why did we change our meeting place all of sudden?” Walker asked, uneasiness noticeable in his voice. He looked at a raven haired woman in late twenties or early thirties sitting on old wooden box and she signed.

“Maya-san?” he exchanged worried looks with a teenage girl next to him, before they both turned back to Maya.

“It´s about Aogiri.” she said and looked around the room. “As you all know, few months ago, they usurped the power in the 11th ward and completely took over it.” Everyone nodded.

“Apparently, they were looking for someone named Kamishiro Rize, and she seems to be pretty much of a reason why they managed to take over the 11th ward.”

“Rize?!” Walker jumped in surprise and every look in the room turned on him.

“Do you know her?” the man at the door asked him warily.

“Not well, but yes. She was in 20th ward when I met her for the first time though.”

“20th ward?” Maya asked and furrowed her brows. “You´re there pretty often. Do you know something more about this Rize person?” Walker shook his head.

“Not much. She seemed to be a trouble maker, so I was careful not to cross paths with her.”

“I see. Do you know why she left the 11th ward?”

“No. I just know that even in Nerima, she caused a lot of trouble. She was the reason why they sent more Doves from the Nest in 1st ward. As far as I know, she was known as Binge Eater.” Walker said and Maya nodded her head slightly.

“Yeah, we found out that it was the same in 11th ward. She was way too active, so the CCG sent more of their Investigators into the ward. She left, but killed a ghoul leader of the ward before it. But that doesn´t solve the question why is Aogiri after her.”

“Sure, but what does it have to do with us?” the teenager asked the question everyone had on their minds. “I mean, 16th and 20th ward are practically neighbouring to each other, but I don´t understand why should we stick our noses into this.”

“Rio,” Maya gave the girl steely look and took a deep breath. “It´s not only about those two regions. Did you know that 13th Jason is also among them? That practically means that Shibuya´s under their control as well. Do you really think they are going to stop only here?” the older woman shook her head. “No, of course not. Aogiri is most likely aiming to take over whole Tokyo and we might be next in the line. Which leads us to the current situation.” She looked around the small room again.

“Does it have anything to do with why are only nine of us here?” Walker asked and Rio fidgeted nervously.

“Yes. Some time ago, we noticed ghouls that are not from Toshima roaming around. They might or might not be members of Aogiri, but I still sent Kira and Nobu to investigate.” She shook her head and moved her chin towards the man at door. “As you can see, only Nobu came back.”

“What?!” everyone jumped in shock. Kira and Nobu were Maya´s right and left hands and just thought of one of them being defeated was downright terrifying.

“W-wait a sec! Shouldn´t we do something about it? Like go and save Kira or something?” Walker yelled. “There´s no way we can just sit around while Kira is...” then it hit him with a force of a train at its full speed.

“Don´t tell me...”

“Kira´s dead. They killed her. I was lucky enough to get out of there. Kira backed me up so I could get back to tell Maya what´s happening in 11th ward. But she ran out of RC cells and was finished by some ukaku kid.” Nobu explained.

 _Ayato?!_ Walker thought, alarmed.

“Which bring us to this.”

“Just what the hell is happening here?”

“When you came here, you guys noticed that our numbers have decreased.”

“Maya-san, don´t tell me that they all got killed?” Walker yelled in exasperation. This was crazy.

“Only few of them.”

“What the fuck does this mean?” he snapped at the ward leader and she signed.

“Just what I´m saying. Some of them were killed. But some of them joined Aogiri Tree on their own volition.” The whole room fell into deadly silence. Some of the ghouls they deemed as comrades have joined an organization that was...

“This is crazy.” Someone said.

“Are they trying to get killed?” added other.

“But when you think about it...”

“Wouldn´t it be better if we too...”

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” this time, few startled faces turned towards Walker. “Listen, I know that you guys want to live as peacefully as you can, but joining Aogiri is wrong. It´s the right opposite of everything we tried in this ward. We tried to mend into human society in order to have peaceful lives and now you let the frigging terrorist organization to ruin that? You guys wanted to live among humans. It doesn´t matter if as a shop keeper or a gang member. You wanted humans to see you as people, not monsters, and Aogiri is ruining it! Don´t you get it? They are making themselves into those monsters humans fear.”

There were few moment of absolute silence before someone broke it. It was Maya.

“That was one hell of a speech, Walker.” She smiled and stood up. Walker flushed slightly.

“Erm, thanks? I guess.”

“But you´re right. Besides, we´ve tried too hard to keep this ward as calm as possible. Trouble with gangs and flying vending machines is enough for the city to handle, they don´t need ghouls on top of that.” She dusted off her sides. “Hao (´good´ in Chinese). Whether you stay or not is your own volition, but I´m not making those years of work at waste. If you do, though, be careful and don´t get into trouble. I´d like you to report anything suspicious to me.” A choired _Yes_ resounded in the small room as the ghouls from Toshima returned to their lives.

* * *

 

_Shinjuku; 23:51_

A female figure strode the street with umbrella in one hand and her keys in other. She spent evening at her friend´s place and completely lost track of time. It was fine, Shinjuku was relatively safe, she will be fine. 

Then why does she have that creepy feeling of predatory eyes pinned to her back?

“It´s fine. Just one block and I´m at home.” She said aloud to keep herself calm. She was almost there, just across the street and behind the corner.

“What?” the young female´s eyes fell at three crashed cars sandwiched into each other, closing the whole street effectively.

“But I´m almost at home. Isn´t there a shortcut?” she made a few steps back to look into a dark alleyway. It would be pointless to return several streets back just to keep herself on the main road when she can go right through there and be at home in a few minutes.

She took a deep breath and entered the dark alley, right after clutching her keys firmly as a makeshift weapon. There was still that unsettling feeling in her chest. The feeling that something was terribly wrong.

She sped up her pace, she was close to her apartment, what could go wrong?

She soon realized what could go wrong.

Every second, every hesitation, every slow down, every distraction.

The female shot her head back at sudden noise. One of the trash cans fell down, causing the noise.

“Probably cat.” She exhaled shakily and turned back.

She wanted to scream in surprise and fear but it was reduced into pathetic cry when someone kicked her hard to her side, making her drop both her keys and umbrella when she collided with wall of the alleyway.

“You shouldn´t walk around alone, my dear. Not at this hour.” A syrupy sweet voice said and caused her to look up with tears of fear and pain. She stifled another cry when she spotted the figure standing above her.

Most likely a male, in black trench coat, black pants and black boots. His all black appearance was topped with mask. Thought black as well, there was a red heart on the place of right eye and dark blue spade on the place of the left one. The mask adorned a menacing grin, giving it appearance of devilish, black clown.

The female was trembling violently with tears streaming down her cheeks at what she saw through it. A pair of black and red eyes. A pair of ghoul eyes.

“What do you want from me?” she asked weakly and flinched when a hand came to her cheek, caressing it softly.

“What exactly should a Ghoul want from a human, my dear? I don´t do this often, but I make you an exception.” a chuckle escaped the man´s throat and her breath hitched again as she heard a sound of ripping fabric when four crimson wings emerged from the ghouls back. 

Then, she realized they weren´t four. There were only two appendages, but forked so it looked like there were four of them.

“Hanamura Mami, who work at cafe in Ikebukuro and attend Raira University.” He locked his predatory eyes with her terrified ones and wiped her tears with his thumb gently.

“Normally, I would love you just like any other human. Because I love all humans, you know? They are so amusing, but you...” his eyes turned steely behind the mask and Mami found herself unable to move completely.

“You were making those eyes at certain beast. I don´t like it.” The ghoul said and at that moment, Hanamura Mami realized that she won´t make it home this time.

“Now, do me a favour, and don´t scream so much, okay?”

**Author's Note:**

> I was thinking whether to post it or not and at the end I decided to do it. And I know I´m digging my own grave with this story >:D


End file.
